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| Labor leadeer Larry Itliong had a huge role in American history. |
In the last week of Filipino American History Month, Califoria's Governor Gavin Newsom issued Friday a proclamation declaring October 25, 2024, as “Larry Itliong Day” in the State of California.
Patty Itliong-Serda, Itliong's daughter, still lives in Delano, California. She is proud to share her father's story.
"It's finally happening that my dad's getting the recognition that he really deserves,"
"It's finally happening that my dad's getting the recognition that he really deserves,"
she said. "He will never know the impact that he has made on this world".
The United Farm Workers honored the late Filipino American labor leader whose union members launched the Delano Grape Strike on Sept. 8, 1965. The largely Filipino Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, which Larry helped lead, walked out on strike against Delano, Calif.-area table and wine grape growers and quickly asked Cesar Chavez’s mostly Latino National Farm Workers Association to join their picket lines. Thus began a five-year grape strike and later a three-year international boycott of California table grapes.
Both Itliong and Chavez knew growers had defeated unions for 100 years by using one race to break the strikes of another. So from the outset of the walkouts, they insisted both Filipino and Latino strikers share the same picket lines and union hall, and eat in the same strike kitchen. The two unions merged in 1966, to form what today is the United Farm Workers of America.
Itiong died in 1977. His Itliong's grave is located on the southeast side of the North Kern Cemetery, five rows to the east of Carnation Road and 52 plots south of the main office.
Solidarity between the races helped produce the first union contracts with table grape growers in 1970, and was a key factor in establishing the first enduring farm workers union in American history.
Tough and courageous, Itliong along other Filipino American leaders such as Peter Velasco and Philip Vera Cruz built the UFW alongside Chavez and his Latino colleagues such as Dolores Huerta and Gilbert Padilla.
Tough and courageous, Itliong along other Filipino American leaders such as Peter Velasco and Philip Vera Cruz built the UFW alongside Chavez and his Latino colleagues such as Dolores Huerta and Gilbert Padilla.
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| Larry Itliong's headstone. |
Itliong-Serda, a retired school librarian, knows people are eager to learn more about her father's story.
"It's exciting to see because Filipino history is American history, so it's very important our stories are told," she said.
"It's exciting to see because Filipino history is American history, so it's very important our stories are told," she said.
The text of Gov. Newsom's proclamation follows:
During Filipino-American Heritage Month, California celebrates the trailblazing labor leader and civil rights champion Larry Itliong. Born on this day in 1913 in a province of the Philippines, Larry Itliong immigrated to the United States as a teenager, where he soon began his life’s work of empowering others.
As a laborer in the fisheries and canneries of Alaska, Itliong helped found the Alaska Cannery Workers Union to secure better working conditions, including an eight-hour workday with overtime. Itliong went on to serve in World War II and later settled in Stockton, where he continued his organizing efforts. There, Itliong helped launch the asparagus strike of 1948 – the first major agricultural strike after World War II – and in 1956, he founded the Filipino Farm Labor Union in Stockton. Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz and other leaders also helped create the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee.
Emerging as a leader in the watershed farm labor movement, Itliong allied with grape workers in the Coachella Valley in their fight for better wages. In 1965, Itliong and fellow Manongs – respected elders in the Filipino-American community – moved to organize against exploitative grape growers in Delano. Shortly after, the Manongs joined forces with César Chávez, Dolores Huerta and the National Farmworkers Association, beginning a nationwide boycott of grapes that led to the first farmworker union contracts.
Recognizing his incredible impact on our state and advocacy for those without a voice, I had the honor of inducting Mr. Itliong into the California Hall of Fame in 2021. Today, on the 111th anniversary of his birth, we honor the immense contributions of Larry Itliong and the Manongs whose hard-fought battles helped advance farmworkers’ rights and social justice in California and beyond. Let us remember their message of “Isang Bagsak!” – we are all connected together in our fight for justice, and we rise and fall together.
NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim October 25, 2024, as “Larry Itliong Day.”
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 24th day of October 2024.
GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California
PROCLAMATION
During Filipino-American Heritage Month, California celebrates the trailblazing labor leader and civil rights champion Larry Itliong. Born on this day in 1913 in a province of the Philippines, Larry Itliong immigrated to the United States as a teenager, where he soon began his life’s work of empowering others.
As a laborer in the fisheries and canneries of Alaska, Itliong helped found the Alaska Cannery Workers Union to secure better working conditions, including an eight-hour workday with overtime. Itliong went on to serve in World War II and later settled in Stockton, where he continued his organizing efforts. There, Itliong helped launch the asparagus strike of 1948 – the first major agricultural strike after World War II – and in 1956, he founded the Filipino Farm Labor Union in Stockton. Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz and other leaders also helped create the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee.
Emerging as a leader in the watershed farm labor movement, Itliong allied with grape workers in the Coachella Valley in their fight for better wages. In 1965, Itliong and fellow Manongs – respected elders in the Filipino-American community – moved to organize against exploitative grape growers in Delano. Shortly after, the Manongs joined forces with César Chávez, Dolores Huerta and the National Farmworkers Association, beginning a nationwide boycott of grapes that led to the first farmworker union contracts.
Recognizing his incredible impact on our state and advocacy for those without a voice, I had the honor of inducting Mr. Itliong into the California Hall of Fame in 2021. Today, on the 111th anniversary of his birth, we honor the immense contributions of Larry Itliong and the Manongs whose hard-fought battles helped advance farmworkers’ rights and social justice in California and beyond. Let us remember their message of “Isang Bagsak!” – we are all connected together in our fight for justice, and we rise and fall together.
NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim October 25, 2024, as “Larry Itliong Day.”
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 24th day of October 2024.
GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California
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